Ministers from 35 countries recently met to discuss a proposed ban on Russian athletes in the 2024 Olympic games. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined the meeting and dramatically stated, “If there’s an Olympic sport with killings and missile strikes, you know which team would take first place.”

The Russian military has indeed inflicted tragedy on Ukraine. However, Zelensky’s remarks also highlight a disturbing double standard regarding state violence and terror. The destructive wars and drone strikes the U.S. has waged since September 11, 2001, would easily put America in first place in any competition of “killings and missile strikes.” Two other close U.S. allies could challenge Russia as contenders for the silver or bronze medal: Saudi Arabia (with U.S. help) for turning Yemen into a post-apocalyptic wasteland replete with disease and famine; and Israel, for its wars on Gaza and killings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Although the Watson Institute at Brown University calculates the number of dead civilians due to direct or indirect U.S. military operations in Iraq to be between 275,000 and 306,000 (compared to a UN estimated 7000 deaths in Ukraine) a ministers meeting has never been called to ban U.S. athletes. Moreover, the U.S. government has never received anything close to the tongue lashing that British sports minister, Lucy Frazer, leveled against Russia on Twitter: “I made the UK’s position very clear: As long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus must not be represented at the Olympics.” This is not to justify Putin’s tactics in Ukraine; they most certainly are brutal. Rather, the question is why the U.S., whose “military forces have been engaged in unauthorized hostilities in many more countries than the Pentagon has disclosed to Congress” has not been deemed “barbaric” enough to restrict U.S. athletes from international competitions.

The banning of Saudi athletes has never been seriously proposed either, despite the terror inflicted on Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights abuses, and the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Israel has also easily avoided such bans. In response to a 2021 attempt by Malaysia to restrict Israeli athletes from participating in the world squash championships, International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a letter that stated, “Countries that bar athletes from other countries will not be allowed to host international sports championships.” The obvious question arises: What do the 35 ministers who call for a Russian ban due to civilian casualties in Ukraine think about Palestinian victims of Israeli wars, occupation and ethnic cleansing?